Clara's POV
"You. Did. What?" Batman fumed. Even though he was speaking in his usual deadpan voice, everyone could tell that he was angry. Furious, even.
"She is entitled to know the truth about why we have been keeping her away from her father," Aqualad argued. "She was tortured by Black Manta for who knows how long has not seen her father in weeks. She has rights."
I agreed with Aqualad. He did the right thing in telling her. There was something about this mission that had been bothering me. Why had Black Manta chosen to torture her? There was no point if they had only been using her as a bargaining chip for the cutting-edge science they were developing at Star Labs. By the end, it looked like they barely wanted her alive anymore.
"Besides, what happened to 'she will be hand-delivered to her father?'" I jumped in. "You told us no information at all other than to 'keep her at the Cave.' You never refused us on telling her why."
"Exactly," Dick said coldly, glaring at the screen. I studied him carefully. His mood towards Batman had changed in the past day. Usually he treated him with respect, like a father. But then again, what did I know about a good relationship with a father.
Batman sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "We'll talk about this later. Until then, don't reveal anything else to her. And make sure she stays at the Cave." he said. His face disappeared and the screen went blank.
"So... what are we gonna do until then?" asked Wally.
"Yeah, what do you guys do for fun around here?" I asked.
"Usually I go home or see friends," Artemis said. The others murmured their agreement.
"We could like... watch a movie or something," M'gann said.
Everybody else seemed okay with that idea, and they made their way for the common room. "I'm just gonna go check on Jesse," I said. "Maybe she wants to join us." I turned away from the Team and walked down the residence corridor. Passing each door, it was clear who's room belonged to who. Some of them were barely used, like Dick's, Wally's and Artemis'. But they had all personalized their door with posters and photographs.
M'gann's door had an image of a scene from the show "Hello Meaghan", and a polaroid of her and Superboy. Dick's had a poster of the Flying Graysons from Haley's circus. Zatanna's had a picture of her dad and her on it. Not surprisingly, Superboy's was bare.
Should I put something on my drab, gray door? How long was I going to be staying with the Team?
When I reached Jesse's room, I knocked softly. "Hello?"
There was no answer. I knocked louder a second time. "Jesse? You good?" Still no answer.
I tried the handle. Locked. With a small kick, the heel of my boot broke the lock and the door went flying. With a jolt, I realized that the room was empty. My eyes wandered to the closet that had been stripped of its clothing, then to the large window that had been opened. A rope made out of bedsheets hung from the windowsill. Jesse was nowhere to be seen.
